Let a Christmas Village Inspire Happy Memories

It’s Christmastime again, a time for reflecting on all of the wonderful Christmases I have had with family members who are no longer here, especially my mom, Agnes Yanek. One of my favorite ways of remembering her is by sharing my Christmas village with Hospice House in her memory, something I have done for many years now.

My husband, Dave, and I have been married for 43 years. One of our first Christmases together, he bought me four Christmas village houses from the True Value hardware store. They weren’t the fancy ones you see today, but they were a treasure to me. Then, of course, it started—every year I received more and more pieces. Our village grew from a little table to a card table to a big long table, and then to a table and shelves. Every year I loved putting up the village and dragging people in to see it.

Twenty years ago, I went home to Indiana to be with my mom, who had cancer, during her last days. She was in the hospital Memorial Day weekend when her doctor said, “Let’s get her home with hospice.” He gave me a phone number to call, and the nice young man who answered was at a Memorial Day picnic playing baseball. I told him we needed a hospital bed at home, and he said, “Don’t worry. I’ll be there shortly.”

He left his fun day to come and help us, and help us he did, with a hospital bed and anything else we needed. I won’t ever forget that act of kindness. I wanted to pass it along, so I donated my village to our local Hospice House here in Mountain Home, and I go there every year to put it up and take it down. If it makes one person feel good for a little bit while they are there with a loved one, going through the sadness of loss, that means a lot to me.

Please stop by the Hospice of the Ozarks House and see our village. While you are there, thank the people you see for the wonderful work they do. God bless you, and have a wonderful Christmas. For more info about Hospice House, visit hospiceoftheozarks.org. M! December 2016/January 2017